Student Workers of Columbia, a labor union representing approximately 3,500 undergraduate and graduate student workers, has dropped its requirement for Columbia University to divest from entities and foreign governments - including Israel - that it accuses of violating international law, the Columbia Spectator reported.
The United Auto Workers-affiliated union removed the divestment proposal from its bargaining platform during ongoing negotiations for a new labor agreement. The contract talks follow the expiration of the group's previous collective bargaining agreement in 2025.
Grant Miner, president of the student union, indicated that the strategic shift was driven by the realities of the negotiation table.
“You start off a campaign with one thing, and then as you bargain, you have to face the realities of where you are," Miner told the Spectator.
The union officially endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in May 2024, coming on the heels of an anti-Israel protest encampment set up on Columbia’s campus. The dropped proposal had asked the university to sever ties with entities identified by the United Nations or International Criminal Court as international law violators.
In March, union members voted to authorize a strike after contract talks with university leadership reached an impasse, with an institutional boycott of Israel serving as a key component of their overall contract campaign.
Union members voted on July 27 to formally retract the divestment item from their contract submission.
The Trump administration had sharply criticized Columbia’s response to antisemitism on campus, freezing $400 million in research funding as part of a broader effort targeting major universities and their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
As part of a settlement reached last year, Columbia agreed to pay $221 million in penalties and to reduce its financial reliance on international students, who constitute roughly 40% of its enrollment.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)